Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Preview of The 15th Annual MagnoliaFest 2011.10.20-2011.10.23 Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park Live Oak, FL

The summer festival season may be coming to an end, but there is one hideout that does not abide by the rules of seasonal music shakedowns. For the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park, things are just kicking off with Blackwater Music Festival having gone off without a hitch two weeks ago, and now the quinceanera of Magnolia Music & Events’ sister festival to Springfest coming the third weekend in October. The 15th Annual MagnoliaFest has organically grown a reputation for highlighting some of the best folk, bluegrass and twangy rock groups on the circuit by incorporating them into environ built to facilitate an inclusive festival experience while balancing the rugged natural appeal of Northern Florida’s beautiful terrain.

Strategically located half way between Jacksonville and Tallahassee, Live Oak is a remote town with easy access from every direction on the compass. Modestly boasting a superb facility designed as a premiere music venue, The Spirit of Suwannee Music Park sits on 580 wooded acres along the Suwannee River. The setting provides for extensive camping, fishing, canoeing, swimming and 12 miles of hiking, biking and horseback riding trails. Cabins for rent, retrofitted RV plug-ins, a general store, a hammock cluster and golf cart rentals are other amenities you might not find at your run of the mill festival. All of this and more are reasons to make the trek, but the lineup this year is noteworthy to say the least.

Four days of some of non-stop wholesome rock and bluegrass kicks off Thursday with the legendary Col. Bruce Hampton teaming up with the Pharaoh Gummit, and thenThe 7 Walkers properly warming up the Amphitheater stage. Friday and Saturday offer up more eclectic headlining slots featuring newgrass Jersey boys Railroad Earth, country folk rocker Lucinda Williams, a collab with Travelin’ McCourys and loop prodigy Keller Williams, a reunited super-group with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and two nights with the stellar upstate New York jam-quintet moe..

Each night also features a super-jam segment with a rotating cast of festival performers. This will be an obvious highlight and unique experience as the makeshift ensembles push the creative borders to create live art on stage. Although appearing top-heavy, the balance is there with a series of string bands in the vein of Cornmeal, Infamous Krewe (The Infamous String Dusters and Toubab Krewe collaboration), Honey Island Swamp Band and The Lee Boys playing throughout the day on the four different stages.

Add in folky solo artists – Nikki Talley, Whetherman, Grayson Capps and Jim Lauderdale; familial dynamic duos – The Corbitt Brothers and The Mosier Brothers; and breaking outfits – Thomas Wynn & The Believers, Sloppy Joe, Pepper Drive and Galen Kiper Project, and the sum of the parts equal a fantastic weekend of foot stomping and top notch musicianship in one of the best places to be in the country this time of year.

Rounding out the jam-packed weekend, Sunday is an early afternoon-to-early evening double dose of weekend performers before ending with a set by New York’s infamous Americana crew Donna the Buffalo. If vacation is the name of your game, don’t miss the chance to take advantage of continuous perks like afternoon yoga with Brenda Star Walker, a drum camp and bon fire hosted by Paralounge volunteers, and setting up your tent around Rees Lake. In a foreign attempt to accommodate festival-goer schedules, tickets for the weekend come in the form of a 4-day camping pass, Saturday/Sunday two-day pass or individual day passes. For more information on all of this go to the festival website atwww.magnoliafest.com.

Another great event brought to your attention by your friends at AURA Music Group, LLC